As we drove along we remarked how green the desert is this year.
Often making the view seem like a pasture.
The flowers are especially pretty. And it is interesting how one will pass an area with a big patch of blue....
And then one of deep red/orange.
When we arrived at our customer's home, Jim set out to work on his satellite reception, and I continued to take pictures.Scattered within about a 50' area around the house I found some of the lovliest flowers, often smaller than my little fingernail.
THese reminded me of the windmills that are sprouting up around the California hills as an energy source. These particular plants will grow to produce.....
These lovely white flowers
A glace along the road as we drove in might make one think there are just some white flowers.
But a closer glance reveals that just among the white flowers there are several varieties.
These are such a pale lavendar as to be almost unnoticed as one drives by.
And these yellow flowers are almost lost to the eye.
And these yellow flowers are almost lost to the eye.
On one side of the yard I noticed beautiful fernlike plants.
Then on the other side noticed
the ones there were beginning to have these almost snapdragon like flowers.Notice how many buds this small plant has. 
I go inside the customer's home. He actually has a job in Phoenix, but his 98 year old mother needs someone to live with her so with the marvels of modern technology he will be able to do his work from this remote location that doesn't even have a normal phone line, via internet satellite.
Today his sister is visiting, helping to care for their mother. She welcomes me and I remark that I've been taking pictures of all their lovely flowers. She laughs as if I've made a joke. "What flowers?" she says.
She seems surprised to learn there are almost 15 different types of flowers scattered around the yard. "I bet your mother knows them all", I say. "Yes, she probably does" the daughter replies.
I soon learn she is only there for the day, her turn to care for her mother. She is a good daughter, gently she combs her mother's long hair and then twists it expertly into a coil she fastens with a baret. Her mother pats it approvingly.
The daugher has brought her own daughter with her for the day. They tell me that all her life her mother has kept sheep. The herd is small now, yet they continue to maintain the herd to keep her happy. Today the son will be shearing them, but the daughter and granddaughter will be slaughtering one for the mother.
After fixing her hair the daughter helps her mother use her walker to go outside. She stops to shake my hand and smiles at me. I wonder what she thinks of this white man and woman who come into her home. Outside she steps up to the back of a small van that the granddaughter has driven over close to the house. As all their conversation has been in Navajo (the grandmother speaks no english), I assume they plan to take the Grandmother somewhere.
They open the back of the van to reveal a sheep, lying on it's side, it's legs bound. The grandmother pats it approvingly. She then makes her way slowly back up the ramp they have made for her and into the house.
The daughters put on big butcher type aprons and grab up a pail of water. It is a hot day and they each have a large thermal cup that I realize are filled with ice cream. As they leave the house one remarks that she has brought her best knives. "We have a very bloody, messy job to do", they say to me, "but it must get done, so we best get to it."
My husband lets me know that he has finished his job and we prepare to go. I wave goodby to the grandmother sitting on her bed in the cool of her home. She smiles in return. As we get in the car I notice the others have moved the van over under a tree. They are laughing as they share a joke to help make a messy job easier. They live on the edge of tomorrow and yesterday.
I go inside the customer's home. He actually has a job in Phoenix, but his 98 year old mother needs someone to live with her so with the marvels of modern technology he will be able to do his work from this remote location that doesn't even have a normal phone line, via internet satellite.
Today his sister is visiting, helping to care for their mother. She welcomes me and I remark that I've been taking pictures of all their lovely flowers. She laughs as if I've made a joke. "What flowers?" she says.
She seems surprised to learn there are almost 15 different types of flowers scattered around the yard. "I bet your mother knows them all", I say. "Yes, she probably does" the daughter replies.
I soon learn she is only there for the day, her turn to care for her mother. She is a good daughter, gently she combs her mother's long hair and then twists it expertly into a coil she fastens with a baret. Her mother pats it approvingly.
The daugher has brought her own daughter with her for the day. They tell me that all her life her mother has kept sheep. The herd is small now, yet they continue to maintain the herd to keep her happy. Today the son will be shearing them, but the daughter and granddaughter will be slaughtering one for the mother.
After fixing her hair the daughter helps her mother use her walker to go outside. She stops to shake my hand and smiles at me. I wonder what she thinks of this white man and woman who come into her home. Outside she steps up to the back of a small van that the granddaughter has driven over close to the house. As all their conversation has been in Navajo (the grandmother speaks no english), I assume they plan to take the Grandmother somewhere.
They open the back of the van to reveal a sheep, lying on it's side, it's legs bound. The grandmother pats it approvingly. She then makes her way slowly back up the ramp they have made for her and into the house.
The daughters put on big butcher type aprons and grab up a pail of water. It is a hot day and they each have a large thermal cup that I realize are filled with ice cream. As they leave the house one remarks that she has brought her best knives. "We have a very bloody, messy job to do", they say to me, "but it must get done, so we best get to it."
My husband lets me know that he has finished his job and we prepare to go. I wave goodby to the grandmother sitting on her bed in the cool of her home. She smiles in return. As we get in the car I notice the others have moved the van over under a tree. They are laughing as they share a joke to help make a messy job easier. They live on the edge of tomorrow and yesterday.
